Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Life’s Purpose is Null

Today, we wake up; we eat; we drink; we go to school; we go to work; we go shopping; we go home; we watch tv; we surf the net; then we sleep. Repeat this everyday with some variations like watching movies, playing sports, going on trips and that’s it. We keep on struggling, hoping to experience tomorrow or at least finish the day but for what purpose?

I reflected on this idea and concluded that life has no purpose. We do the things we do and then what? We invent things; we solve problems, but then what? We try our best to survive or to adapt but for what? We fall in love but end up hurting them or ourselves, so why fall in love in the first place? Even after we die, we leave legacies like our children or our works but why is it significant? We keep on advancing but towards where? In the end of time, everything will perish so why bother to struggle?

Is life really a privilege? A gift? Or is it a curse? It seems that we were brought here to suffer though we keep on saying that we should always look at the brighter side; what for? Ignoring negativity doesn’t mean it won’t exist. We are bounded to experience fear, pain, and suffering. We can overcome them and as a result, we seem stronger but then what? We can inspire others but then what? We’ll all die anyway so what’s the point? We may leave this planet but we won’t be immortals. I’m not sure in the future but for now, we won’t. Even if we do attain immortality, would the problems go away? We just created an eternity of aiming at nothing.

Same with intelligence. We brag about it. We think we are superior in this planet but look around us. We are surrounded with filth and delusions. This intelligence that we’re proud of brought us where we are. Dead rivers, poisoned seas, endangered species, dying forests and it goes on.

They even say that the Earth is dying. But there are some who say that the Earth is fine. I believe on the latter. Why? Because it’s not the earth but us, humans, that are dying. Let’s take Mars for example. It doesn’t have forests or water but it’s still floating there. Same with Earth. Remove its forests and waters and Earth will still be there but gone are us, humans.

Those campaigns about preserving Earth is not really for saving it; rather, it’s for saving ourselves. We preserve Earth as much as it is now in order to survive, but why? Why do we have to survive? We live and we cause trouble. We solve problems and then create another, so what’s the point? Everything is bounded to end; bounded to be gone, so why strive to progress?

We created systems like governments and money to organize things but somehow these things caused suffering, poverty, chaos, and war! We created religion that supposedly promotes peace and love but somehow it created hate and discrimination towards other beliefs.

We kill in the name of Love! We kill in the name of Justice! We kill in the name of God! We kill to Survive! We do these killings to promote something positive like good health, beauty, happiness or peace; after attaining those things, what then?

This intelligence that we are so proud of could also be our ticket to our own damnation. This could be the cause of our extinction: the end of mankind.

For a moment, I lost my will to live but I’m yet too lazy to die or to be stagnant, at the very least. After realizing that there’s no real purpose in life, I still chose to move forward and I don’t know why. Maybe I’m just not ready yet or maybe I’m just afraid. I can’t explain but it just feels right to survive. I think that’s part of being human. We have both intelligence and stupidity. We know there’s nothing to life but we keep on clinging to it.

Life has no purpose. It just seem we have purpose because a lot of those who lived and died before us presented a lot of possibilities and told us to treat them as life’s purpose. It’s a scary thought but also a good one. I think it lifted a lot of pressure and worrying.

You can think of it like we are empty buckets. It doesn't have to end on being empty. It could just mean that we can put anything on it. Having no purpose could also mean that we can do whatever we want with whatever we have. We can continue pursuing those possibilities presented to us or we can just create our own purpose.

You can also think of it as if we were given a piece of paper and we can do whatever with it. We can throw it away or tear it apart but we can also craft something out of it. We can write on it; draw on it; even put colors in it. We can even share it with others!

Life was given to us for no reason at all so maybe we just have to make the most out of it. In the end, everything won’t matter but at least we had a lot of fun.

Maybe let's first agree on how much is too much? :D But yes; I seem to over analyze a lot of things and that's one of the reasons why I started this blog. I try to put every "excess" thinking in here.

I know little about Buddhism and I do plan on reading further about it. Regarding life; I believe it's open to all kinds of interpretation and suffering is just one of them. If I remember correctly, Buddhism teaches us that in order to avoid suffering we first need to get rid of our desires. That being said, life could also mean being simple and contented. :)